New York Left Behind on National Progress of Reducing Child Poverty

New York, N.Y. – Children’s Defense Fund-New York Executive Director Naomi Post released this statement in response to the U.S. Census Bureau release of 2015 child poverty numbers in the states today. The new information shows New York has been left behind on national progress in reducing child poverty. In 2015 one million fewer children across the nation were poor than in 2014, but only 13 states show statistically significant decreases and New York is not among them. In New York more than 900,000 children remained poor including more than 300,000 under age 6 during the years of greatest brain development. The New York decline in the child poverty rate from 22.6 to 22 percent placed New York 34th out of 50 states.

New York’s children as a whole were more poor than children in the rest of the country, Black children in New York are doing slightly better — although they remain far more likely to be poor than their White peers. Nearly 1 in 3 Black children in New York were poor in 2015 compared to fewer than 1 in 7 White children.

“While the Children’s Defense Fund celebrates that one million children were lifted out of poverty across the nation, we are deeply disappointed that New York’s children are being left behind. Children only have one childhood, and that is right now. Poverty is hurting our babies, infants and toddlers today, and the harm may last a lifetime. It is disgraceful that hundreds of thousands of poor children languish and are denied opportunities to strive and thrive in this rich state. We can and must end child poverty by expanding and investing in programs we know work. That’s what our state and local leaders need to be talking about and doing. We all need to vote responsibly in November and then hold our leaders accountable for their action or inaction to end child poverty now in New York.”

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The Children’s Defense Fund-New York Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.